Railway splice-bar



(No Model.)

M. SELLERS.

RAILWAY SPLICE BAR. No. 339,940. Patented Apr. 13, 1886.

WITNESSES: INVENTOR,

: (M44731! -t/Uxvs,

W B 7 ATTS ILNE Y.

N. PETERS, Phulo-Mbographur. Warhinglon. o. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MORRIS SELLERS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

RAILWAY SPLICE-BAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 339,940, dated April 13, 1886.

Application filed November 21, 1885. Serial No. 183,464.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, MoRRIs SELLnRs, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, a citizen of the United States, have invented or discovered a certain new and useful Improvement in Railway Splice-Bars, of

which improvement the following is a specification.

In the accompanying drawings, which make part of this specification, Figure 1 is a side view or elevation of a railway -track joint taken from the inside and illustrative of my presentinvention. Fig. 2 is alike view taken from the other or outer side. Fig. 3 is ahorizontal sectional view through the plane of the bolt-holes. Fig. 4 is a vertical cross-section in the plane of the line as x, and Fig. 5 is a like view in the plane of the line y y. Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional view of a modification of my improved splicebar.

My invention relates to an improvement in the splice-bars commonly used as splicingpieces in railway-track joints, with reference to securingamaximum of rigidity immediately at the joint,or where the rail ends abut, along with a progressive or increasing degree or amount of flexibility or yield in the splicebar, thence each way to its ends, the result sought for being to secure as nearly as may be an amount of deflection at the joint which shall be the same, or approximately the same, as exists elsewhere in the rail, or, in other words, to secure a constant and uniform wave of deflection continuously along-each line of rails under the action of a passing train as well at the joint as along the body of the rail away from the joint. To insure this result a considerable amount or body of metal should be put into the fish or splice bars immediately at the joint; butas the capacity or liability of the rail to yield or give downward under a passing load decreases rapidly as we recede from the end, and for a foot and a half or two feet decreases with practical uniformity until at or about that point it becomes constant or normal throughout the rest of the length of the rail, from this it necessarily follows that the rigidity of the splice or fish bars should decrease uniformly, or approximately so,from the thick or comparatively rigid middle portion toward each end. Hence in order to secure this and get a practically uniform yield or (No model.)

ing or seat on the under side of the head of I the rail and on top of the flange throughout .the entire length of the bar, but without coming into binding contact with the Web. Then it will be seen that as the rail loses in rigidity toward its extreme end,and thereby would be liable to too great deflection, the splicebars applied thereto increase in rigidity approximately in corresponding degree or amount; but, being made of wrought metal, they still have a certain amount or degree of flexibility or capacity to yield, such that the deflection of the rail at and near the joints will be the same or approximately the same as it is in the body of the rail remote from the joint; and in order to secure this uniform ac tion it is important,and in fact essential, that the splice-bars be made of wrought metal say steel or wrought-iron-since a cast-iron splicebar has too little flexibility or capacity to yield to be adapted for the use desired, and as the operation of rolling is the only Way such wrought splice-bars can be produced with commercial success, I limit myself to one which is capable of being produced by the operation of rolling as ordinarily practiced in metal-working.

In the drawings,AArepresent the abutting ends of two track-rails, and B B represent the splice-bars or fish-bars of what is technically known as a combination-joint, in which the inside bar, B, is so made that its upper and lower edges bear on the under side of the railhead and on the upper side of the flange,while the outer bar, B, is so formed and shaped as to have like seats or bearings, and has also a flange, b,which projects outwardly any desired distance down the upper face of the flange, and, if so preferred, sufficiently far to rest on the cross-ties; but in so far as relates to the present invention both of the bars may be made like B or both like B. These splice or fish I la greater than the rail receives at its middle portion, and also with reference to carrying the wave of deflection progressively and regu larly forward from the end of one ra-il'into the abutting end of the next rail, so as to avoid an injurious jar in the passing train, or ade structive or injurious blow of the wheel on the rail'end, or a serious or breaking strain'on the rail; and that the flexibility properly belonging to the rails at their middle portions, and

' thus secured immediately at their ends, may be preserved as near as may be constant in degree or amount along the lapping lengths of the splice-bars, I make the latter with a practically uniform taper in thickness, but not in width, from at or near the middle parts, a, thereof to the extreme ends, and by virtue of the existence of this taper their rigidity is progressively lessened toward their ends correspondingly as the rigidity of the rail through the same distance is increased. At the same time this rigidity is not absolute, either in the rail or splice-bars; but by the taper described and indicated I give to them such relative amount or degree of flexibility as will result in a practically uniform deflection in all parts of the track, and the propagation of the wave of deflection through the joints fromrail to rail and along the rails without serious'break or jar; and it will be observed that the inner faces of the bars are so shaped relatively to their width that the bars do not take a binding engagement on the web, and hence as the edges wear away in use they may-be drawn in or set up to the rails by the use of the ordinary bolts and nuts, as illustrated in the drawings.

As a modification of the taper bar described,

I prefer in some cases to taper only the body or the bar, leaving the upperand lower edges of full thickness, as illustrated in Fig. 6, where the full lines represent the endof the bar, and the dotted line 8 represents the exterior line of the bar at its thick middle portion. In this case the taper is-practicallyuniform from the thick middle portion to its ends, along the body 0, between the upper and lowerbeads, c 0"; but the latter preserve substantially the full width of upper and lower bearing-surfaces throughout, so as to wear away with practical uniformity from end to end.

I am aware that splice-barsalternately thick and thin at different portions of their length have been made with reference to the attainment, so far as could be done in that- Way, of the useful results above referred to, as in Patent No. 170,384; but the alternating of thick and thin portions, as therein described, tends to interfere to that extent with the uniformly progressive increase of rigidity I in thesplice-bar which is desiredywhereby a practically constant deflection is secured continuously along the track-rails.

Without limiting myself to any exact dimensions-orproportions, I would add that on a thirty-six inch bar, with the most commonly used standard or pattern of American rail, I believe that good results can be securedby a seven-eighths-inch thickness in the bar at its middle portion, a one-half-inch thickness at each end, and a' practically'uniform taper between those points, with he'usnal spacing and number of bolt-holes.

Heretofore the efl'orts of most inventors in this branchlof the'arts have been-directed to making-the rail-jointsasrigidas-possible, and in doing so theyhave utterly ignored," or else were ignorant of, the fact thatexoessive rigidity at the j oint'is as fatal a defect as excessive flexibility. Y Y

'The present 'invention'is directed curing of a degree or amount of flexibility at the joint corresponding as near as may be to the flexibility of the railat its middle part or away from the joint,=and also to making that flexibilityuniform or constantthroughout or continuously along the rail and joint. I do not claim, broadly, that tapering splice-bars are new with me, such being found in English PateutNo. 1,780 of 1853, and in United States Patents No.=304,895,"of September 9,

1884, No. 215', 509, 05-May 20, 1879, No. 251,030, of December*20, 1881, and perhaps in others,

but in all these caseswedge-likeeacting clamping-chairs are "employed or combined therewithin such manner as to exclude the desired flexibility atthe joint, or to prevent the wave of *deflectionwhich necessarily exists in the 'rail from moving-forward through; the joint without 1 materialchange or interruption, and

this will be-themore'apparent when it is observed that inall the'patentslast cited the splice-bars are too'short and too thick to proto-the sevide in any'event for any appreciable amount of vertical deflection, hence it will be understood that I disclaimthe taper-splice-bar whencombined with clamping-chairs operating thereon by a wedge-likeaction. The in- "teriorly-tap'ered splic'e-ban-of United States Patent N o. 234,529,0f November 16, 1880, is

also disclaim'ed, as not attaining the results I haveinview, for thereasonthat the metal at andtoward the ends of the barsis so disposed in relation'to the web as to acton the'principle'of the arch, and sointerferewith-orprevent the uniform movement of 'therwave of deflection through the joint; audit will also -bars of or approximately of -standard length,

be understood that thestepfiedorre-enforced g each comparatively thick at its middle portion, and having its outer walls tapering there from to its ends, and each having suitablyshaped edges for taking a continuous hearing or seat on the under side of the rail-head and on the flange, in combination with the abutting rail ends of a railway-track, and with a bolt-and-nutfastening,asshown and described, with reference to securing a practically uniform flexibility and a continuous wave of defiection in all parts of the track, substantially as set forth.

2. An elastic wrought splice-bar having a 

